Author: HeyTrainer

Social Saturdays 2 — whether the Pokemon TCG is welcoming to New Players

Pokémon and Pokémon TCG, historically considered “kid’s games,” actually draw an incredibly diverse audience. Not only are the vast majority of Pokémon’s competitive players adults; several of the players who grew up with Pokémon got their siblings, spouses, and children hooked, as well. It’s a bona fide family game!



So then that raises the question: Is the Pokémon TCG welcoming to players beyond the “genwunners” and their counterparts? Heck, can we even really consider Pokémon TCG that welcome to anyone outside of its bubble? In today’s Social Saturday, we’ll be examining that crucial question to the game’s survival.

Methodology – or lack thereof

I won’t measure how welcoming Pokémon is in a scientific sense, and my use of empirical data will be limited. However, this article does seek to address the good and the bad that I’ve seen, in the hopes of raising awareness, creating discussion, and brainstorming ideas. If something in here inspires you to approach this scientifically, then I’m all for that! But for now, consider this article less formal or academic, and more casual, in the hopes that it can be more accessible to the whole community – and maybe people on the fence about joining.

Casual Play: a great place to be!

Except for the occasional bad experience, I think players on average are much more likely to enjoy themselves when they’re casual. At this point, you haven’t gotten serious, really just mess around, and your most serious “events” are league and all the league satellite events, i.e. Challenges and Cups. This is the introductory stage of Pokémon cards, and for the most part, this is where a majority of the people who have ever played the game will stay. Every league is different, and its tone is set largely by the league leader. While there are definitely some difficulties getting approval for leagues, I’d say Play! Pokémon has a much stronger system set in place than it ever did to reduce the risk of crappy league leaders – I said “reduce” because there are still scam artists like Mr. Hypothetical who becomes a leader just to rob supplies, but they’re pretty rare.

For the most part, I’d say leagues are supremely welcoming, with plenty to do and not a whole lot to suffer. Of course these places aren’t immune to awful things happening – I had $50 stolen from me as a little kid, and it felt terrible. But even with that bad experience, it wasn’t enough to deter me from the game. And now that we literally have league leaders who grew up with the game and know what it means to grow the player base, the quality of people we now have is only going to increase.

Final verdict – super welcoming!

Competitive Play: a troubled experience for the wayward newbie


Competitive tournaments, on the other hand, can be very disconcerting for a newer player, especially since they’re so used to the way casual play works.

Many years ago, I went to what was called a Super Trainer Showdown qualifier. My experience with organized play up to this point was Pokémon league and mall tours, so I had no idea what to expect. I spent a lot of time waiting around, only to get to play two rounds into double elimination with my awful big Basics deck before I was done or the day…and that was all! While I continued on with the game, had I based any future desire to play competitively on this one event, I would’ve been insane.

Nowadays, I can only imagine what new players feel like when they’re thrown into their first League Cup laden with point-hungry pros, or even their first Regional Championship with around 500-700 other competitors. How must it feel have so many odd pressures on you, including the cutthroat nature of some of your opponents, and of course the looming 50-minute timer.

All this pressure coupled with competitiveness can bring out the bad. Even a legitimate player following the rules could potentially frustrate a casual newbie without ever knowing it, and the experience could perhaps turn the person off of Pokémon forever. This gets even more complex for attractive women players, who may get ogled at least once every tournament.

(In the coming months, we’ll revisit the topic of women in Pokémon. I think this issue is fascinating in its own right, especially because there comes a point when Junior girls begin to drop off from the game.)

And then there are the cheaters. When you have money on the line, this is when people’s demons may truly come out, and a newer player may be at serious risk for exploitation. People who like the game don’t always know its intricacies, so when the casual player who just likes the game without fully understanding it is up against a pro who knows the inside and outs of card interactions. Perhaps the biggest threat to new players is willful neglect by the cheater; that is, neglecting to point out and openly take advantage of inaccuracies in the board state.

Of course it’s a bit more complicated than pressure and cheating, and I’d be remiss if I just looked at external reasons for why newbies could get turned off by big tournaments. For starters, many new players tend to have a stubborn misunderstanding of the rules. Normally these get cleared up by the judge explaining the card interactions, but it’s infuriating to learn that Flygon is suddenly doing twice as much Damage to you, or that Weakness applies before Resistance when you always thought it was the other way around.

Finally, there’s the sheer length of these things. Rather than go to league for free and come and go at your leisure, you’re essentially paying a tournament organizer anywhere between $5 and $40 to hold you hostage for a day! Combine all that and for new players, and it’s a tough day.

Here’s where PTO’s and Play! Pokémon have taken great lengths to make the new player experience better. There are many problems with organized play this season, of which I will go into later, but organizers are finding all sorts of ways to keep their Regional Championship events inviting. Perhaps the most important thing is to have side events or something to do when players are eliminated from regulation matches. Another thing is to produce more of an interactive event, which streaming has done a fantastic job at doing. Regionals still have a long way to go before they’re honestly events for everyone and not just the competitive players, but I see promise in the future.


Final verdict: Mostly unwelcoming, but lots of hope to improve soon



Last but not least, there’s the gateway drug known as…

Pokémon Trading Card Game Online

The censored username is "DirtyPoopyPants619"


PTCGO and the message boards/groups surrounding it are a unique hybrid because you’ve got prizes, virtual currency, and virtual cards, but nothing that’s terribly serious. About the furthest you ever get here are 24-ticket tournaments with 20 online booster packs as prizes, after all. All the same, you’ve got the same competitive mentality bleeding through, coupled with a relatively toxic internet troll approach to a card game with children players. But whether you’re a child or adult, I feel like newer players have a lot to do on PTCGO that strikes that balance between league-casual and Worlds-competitive. You also see that in the diverse competitors, as with every improvement you make in your hidden match-making ranking, the better the players you’ll play.  Finally, you’ll never be taken for a ride by pro players because – guess what – the match-making system pairs newbies against each other!

Although I miss having in-game chat, it may have ultimately been a good call by the developers to limit communication in public games to select stock phrases and emojis. A new player DOESN’T need to hear you moan about not drawing Double Colorless off your Set Up for six; a new player DOESN’T need to be made fun of; and a new player DOESN’T need to be told their deck “sucks,” even if it is abjectly inferior.


I don’t really uses PTCGO for the experience, so I’m afraid I’m not well suited to critique the community. But it is a good place to enjoy the game, especially as a new player.

Final Verdict: pretty good for new players, too.

Conclusion

Our online program and casual avenues of play are great and incredibly welcoming to new players, but our competitive circuit still needs to improve in the way it invites the general public into its serious events. Tune in next week as we go over the state of organized play in Pokemon, and throw out some ways to improve competitive Pokemon for everyone, including the newbies!

All Eyes on the Owl Guy Part Two


–Part Two–
3.2. Tournament Report, Rounds 8-finals
4. Some thoughts on Decidueye’s future
5. Conclusion and Gratitude


3. Tournament Report, Rounds 8-end

Round 8: VS Ross Cawthon (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)

We return to the third Lurantis GX deck in a row. This time, Ross was using a list very similar to what Dean had, including tech Pal Pad to get back valuable Supporter cards like AZ.  The one aspect of Ross’s list which made it distinct from the others was Silver Bangle, which – while not uniquely good against my deck – is very useful for putting all regular EX’s and some GX’s into range for Chloroscythe GX.


Game One: He gets out the lock and destroys me. I don’t remember the rest of the game details past that, but I do remember an interesting situation at the very end –

Ross asks to see my Discard pile, and around a second later I scoop, knowing I had no way to win. Rather than give Ross the full opportunity to look through the Discard pile, I instead begin shuffling everything up right away, despite the request still floating. This is complicated because on one hand, Discard is public knowledge that every player has a right to know; on the other hand, once a player scoops and goes to the next game, the opposing player has no right to stew over the board position. I felt like the presentation and timing of my scoop were bad manners though, so while shuffling up for game two, I volunteered as much of the information he wanted as I could remember.

Game Two: It seems we both get out the lock at around the same time, but much like my first game against Dean, I’m able to outmuscle him with a combination of Lugia EX drawing out the Chloroscythe GX early, and a beefy Decidueye GX effectively dealing two shot-worthy damage every turn, even with healing.

Game Three: Unlike the first couple of games I get off to a convincingly strong start, even in the face of Vileplume lock. I quickly wrestle board control and am approaching a winning position, but unfortunately time is called. Ross then AZ’s up his damaged Lurantis rather than attacking with it, forcing the draw. I think if I had 2-3 more turns I would’ve won, but considering how far off from a win that is, I was okay with the tie. (6-1-1)

Round 9: VS Zygarde/Carbink/Landorus

Game One: Item lock, free damage to get around Focus Sash, Weakness, good start, natural ability to play around Carbink’s Safeguard…yeah, this game was in the bag the moment we set up.

Game Two: I prize two Vileplume and am also off to a slow start, so it’s looking ugly. I’m also down an attachment, so it’s extremely rough offering up valid board threats to match his attackers. However, small two-shots from Lugia, and even combinations between Feather Arrow and Sky Return help put the pressure on until he eventually cracks, giving me the prizes I need to start attacking, continue to draw my prized Vileplumes, and then finally seal the game away.

…So there we have it, folks: 7-1-1 going into day two! I'm in a strong position to secure top eight, but am reasonably sure I need at least two or three more wins to secure top eight.

~~~Day Two~~~

Round 10: VS Rahul Reddy (Volcanion)


Game One: Unfortunately Rahul is given a game loss due to one of his Sky Fields being bent, so this match is ultimately a single game. This is an incredibly rare, powerful advantage no matter when you get it, but as I think Volcanion is by far Decidueye's worst matchup in Expanded, I at first felt like the advantage was mitigated.

Rahul chooses to go first, and is off to a convincing start with lots of Basics and a successful Max Elixir. He pitches his Keldeo early, which is a double-edged sword in this matchup, either giving me free prizes or saving him from my lock strategy. I'd ultimately side with his call being the correct one, though I can imagine lots of spots where if he had saved the Keldeo, I might have been unable to lock him. I don't remember if he ever actually had the choice to save it however, so I'll defer to this being the correct call.

As it stood, I got a convincing turn one start including the Item lock. So while his start was very strong, dealing big Damage early, I had exactly what I needed to win this matchup the way I always do: bring up high Retreat Cost Pokemon, force him to draw Energy just to play, and then whittle away my biggest threats using Feather Arrow. This is actually a matchup where your micro-level plays are super crucial: Screw up a single Feather Arrow or Lysandre prediction and you're toast. I didn't screw up the Feather Arrows however, and played out my targets very methodically:

* Kill the 40 HP Staryu, to get a quick and dirty prize but avoi Starmie later in the game (check);
* Set up a baby Volcanion for a Feather Arrow KO (check);
* Position myself to score some decisive EX KO's (check and check);
* Keep the biggest threats out of the active position at all times! (check check and triple check).

In the end it paid off, and my disruption was too much. (8-1-1)

Round 11: VS Alex Wilson (Mega Ray)

Game One: is a long, drawn-out blowout with an early lock. Every play I make past the lock is just doing what I can to make sure Alex gets no way to sneak out a win. Even when he's able to Hex Maniac to put a Keldeo EX into play with a Float stone to circumvent sticking his Hoopa EX in the active slot, I Xerosic away his Float Stone immediately.

Game Two: I don't remember terribly well. Time is called while we're in the middle of it, but it was more or less like a harder version of the first game, with me in in an incredible board position while his Mega Rays were desperately over-burdened (9-1-1)

Round 12: VS Andrew Wamboldt (Maxie's Yveltal)

As a HeyTrainer veteran and free site owner of the Charizard Lounge, we've been friends for a while, but have never actually played in a tournament. However, we play a very fun diplomacy, prediction-based game on HeyTrainer called Mafia, which has given me a window into how clever and strategic this guy can be.

Game One: I win the opening flip, but despite having plenty of cards to draw, miss not only the Vileplume, but Decidueye GX! I do hit Dartrix though, which turns out to be a useful tool to at least try to wiggle out of his turn one Archeops. So I attach Grass, get hit by Archeops, and then the following turn attach DCE, Lysandre out the Archeops, and pray to the heavens that I hit Heads.


…Naturally, I hit Tails, 'cause last time I checked, praying to the heavens on the back of a ghost owl is heresy. 

I then continue to valiantly fight it out, hoping that I can reposition myself for another 'Chops KO, but I never draw the exact right card combination to pull it off.

Game Two: I get out the fast lock, but am put in an incredibly awkward situation where we're draw-passing to each other as I deal minute amounts of Feather Arrow Damage to his nothingness. Eventually I draw into a second Decidueye, and begin really controlling the game with double Feather Arrows. There's a moment where he KO's my Vileplume and threatens the Archeops next turn, but I'm so ar ahead I just decided to get three Decidueye GX into play to secure victory via Razor Leaf and Feather Arrows. At this point there's no way he can win, so Andrew pulls off a funny Evil Ball for 240 to KO a Decidueye, to be met with an Lugia Aero Ball for just as much for game!


Ev-lol Ball versus Aer-lol Ball


Game Three: Andrew gets the turn one Archeops again, buth ith Lugia I'm threatening a fast Knock Out on it. Nevertheless, at this point we have zero time left, and are forced to take the draw. (9-1-2).

Before moving on, I should note that the way we both approached time in this match was extremely fascinating. You would think that I would've conceded to Andrew as soon as he got Archeops out into play, but I decided that wasn't in my best interest for multiple reasons:

1. I actually still had a chance to win, as you see above. Andrew told me after our games concluded that had I hit Heads on Leaf Blade, he would have top decked a card to ruin his follow-up hand thin into a replacement Maxie's/Archeops;
2. I determined that a tie didn't really hurt me at this point, seeing as how 31 points was a clinch to make cut, so scooping early would only increase the odds that Andrew won the match.

Then there's Andrew's side of the board. I actually found it interesting he chose not to concede game two at any point, so I asked to hear his side:

1. In testing (he actually tests the matchup unlike most people who just think Archeops means an auto win), he found that you miss Archeops a surprising amount of the time, and a missed Archeops vs Decidueye/Vileplume more likely than not means a blowout loss.
2. He was already up a game and needed the win much more than I did.

To be clear, we were both happy with the speed at which we each played the game. Instead of stalling or untoward shade, what you had were two players actually making legitimate, sportsmanlike considerations about whether or not to scoop. As it turned out, both of us were too stubborn to scoop for our own reasons, and so the result was an amusing, very laid-back tie  (I don't get to enjoy those very often).

Round 13: VS David Richard (Lurantis GX/Vileplume) — streamed
(link to match)


As I mentioned in the first part, the video footage is infinitely superior to my hazy memory, so I've linked the actual game for your benefit. All the same, I've summarized the games below:

Game One: He gets out both an Energized Lurantis and Plume turn one, but fortunately I also get out a Decidueye relatively quickly. I think hit a Jirachi EX off of Set Up draws and determine that my only way to win against this vastly superior set up is to drag up his Vileplume with no Float Stone to the Active position, hoping to slowly whittle away his Lurantis for game. Amazingly this works, and I win what should have otherwise been a complete blowout game!

Game Two: Unlike the last game, he gets out the turn one lock to a completely unplayable hand. I lose in quick fashion.

Game Three: I lock him, and win in quicker fashion. (10-1-2)

Round 14: VS Anthony Nimmons (Accelgor)



We intentionally draw at Table 1, securing we both make top eight in the largest Regional Championship in the game's history. I also wasn't entirely sure about this matchup, so I was happy to avoid playing Anthony immediately. While I can Lysandre around Ability lock and deal free Damage under Paralysis lock, I still didn't want to test my luck against Wobbuffet! You guys will find that as time goes on and the metagames of Standard and Expanded evolve, Wobbuffet will prove to be an incredible counter to Vileplume.  (10-1-3)

Top Eight: VS Ross Cawthon (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)


Game One: This game is looking bad for me, including Ross beating me to the turn one Vileplume, severely crippling my hand. However, I have just the perfect combination of Pokemon and Energy cards to stay in the game: Although I've got no Decidueye and no draw cards, I'm able to apply early pressure with a Lugia EX before Ross gets to used Chloroscythe GX. Then, in perhaps my most unpredictable play of the tournament, I free-Retreat into Gloom and use Poison Powder to set up a Knock out, protect my Lugia, and ultimately mount my comeback.


Chekhov's Gloom in its natural habitat

We continue to slug it out, but I finally start getting out Decidueyes and then pull off another Lysandre lock against his Vileplume. I force him into the enenviable position to attach three Energy to the Active. Even with the Retreat option, it still isn't enough, and I take game one.

Games Two and Three: Are both incredibly slow, hilarious, and stupid exercises in Item Lock. Game two Ross gets the turn one Vileplume, but little to follow up, so his Fomantis is staring down my Rowlet, Leafage-to-Leafage. He eventually N's out of the awful situation and wins. Game three is just as funny, as I lose three Double Colorless Energy turn one in my effort to get out my own Turn One Vileplume. This results in an extremely slow, brutal win where I spend turn after turn Feather Arrowing his Fomantises, seeing him AZ the Fomantises, and continue to swarm the Fomantises with Synthesis and Leafage. He never gets out a Lurantis, and I win the match. (11-1-3)


Top Four: VS John S. (Night March)
<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/126602268?t=7h39m00s>(Link)</a>

Game One: I get an obscene two Decidueye, one Vileplume start turn one and obliterate a poor Joltik. He scoops around turn two or three.

Game Two: John starts Tauros to my objectively baaad Jirachi EX start, putting an incredible amount of pressure on me without actually using Night March. Throughout the whole game, my challenge is playing around Mad Bull GX, but fortunately Decidueye is very well-built to handle it. So I then rely on a very loopy strategy including the following:

1. Use Feather Arrows to score KOs;
2. Put just enough damage on Tauros to threaten a Knock Out, but not enough to make Mad Bull capable of one-shotting a healthy Decidueye;
3. Exploit his low count of remaining DCEs under Item Lock, and Lysandre cheap prizes for the win.

Even with a couple desperate plays such as Vileplume walling him, this actually works: I force a couple passes out of him, which in turn gives me additional Feather Arrow opportunities. The KO'd Vileplume then gives me a turn full of Items, on top of the replacement Vileplume. And finally, I execute my exploitation plan by Lysandrying a Shaymin, setting another one up for a KO, and then ultimately win the game without ever incurring the Bull's complete wrath. (12-1-3).

We arrive at the finals, and I'm again up against Alex Wilson and his Mega Rayquaza…

Finals: VS Alex Wilson (Mega Rayquaza)


<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/126602268?t=8h42m00s">(Link)</a>

Game One: I miss the turn one lock by a single card (Plume wasa the top deck), but fortunately Alex has an atrocious hand, and so I win. However, it drags out as he looks for ways to get out of the lock and win.

Game Two: And here we are…the moment where my tournament to lose became my meme to win. In perhaps the craziest bout of bad prizing I've experienced, I had not one, not two, but three Rowlett prized!

Look at them all tucked away!

Up until this point, I had been taking very studious notes, making sure that I had a good understanding of my prizes each game. However, when it dawned on my that three Rowlett were prized, I could only come up with this…


Tears, my friends. Tears that my little owls wouldn't be there to carry me to a win in game two. Yet I persisted and played it out, determined that I could win this match with a single Decidueye by locking Alex, drawing my Rowletts out of the prizes, and then pulling the comeback. Unfortunately, everything else is also going wrong with my setup, and eventually I determine that I have to scoop at all costs.

Game Three: Going first, I again whiff the turn one Vileplume, but at least get out a Decidueye GX. Unfortunately, Alex draws the perfect hand after much digging to hit the perfect turn one: DCE, Energy in the discard, Spirit Link, Evolve, Mega Turo, and eight Basics for a clean 240. This instantly puts me way behind, and I'm continuing to fall behind with little hope, but at around the three-prize marker I develop a powerful plan to make a comeback: Hollow Hunt out valuable cards, N him to one, and then use a Xerosic to severely punish the "all in" approach he took with his 240-Damage Rayquaza. Although it was a really well-planned move, I'm greeted by an unfortunate top-deck on the N to one card…


…And with that, our crazy, exciting FInals was over with a quick luring of one of my Benched Pokemon. 

Final Finish: 12-2-3, Second Place

I'm not gonna lie, guys — after all that fighting, prizing, and thwarted planning, it was incredibly heartbreaking to see the tournament end like this. But I'm also not one to dwell on the past, either, so I immediately took the chance to unwind, celebrate, and BE THANKFUL!!! For whatever bad luck I had, I had way more good luck in my favor. And for whatever imperfect playing moments I had, there were also a lot of good moments which were integral to getting to the point that I did. So while I came up just a bit short, I at least can take a lot pride in my finish in a field with some of the world's best players.

4. Some Thoughts on Decidueye's Future

As of publication, Decidueye is devastating Melbourne Internationals, and is perhaps the newest top contender for "best deck in format."  Although I'm sure we'll find a way to beat Decidueye/Vileplume decisively and for good, and it might not even win this instant tournament, there's still little doubt that between players that the owls own all. What's worse, Tapu Lele GX will make it only more powerful in Standard and Expanded, granting the deck more consistency in exchange for the spaces you were already using to run Lugia EX.

We'll see a great fight in the coming weeks between Decidueye and the various Ability lockers: Garbodor, Hex Manic, Silent Lab, and Wobbuffet. Yet in a big field with a shocking number of people wanting to run Decidueye, you'll have to be very dedicated and patient to survive a swiss full of ghost owl.

But regardless of how you feel about Decidueye, we can all agree that this is a very exciting time in the Pokemon TCG.

5. Conclusion and Gratitude

Although I'm not new to winning or doing well in Regional Championships, this will perhaps go down as my most memorable Regional by far.  So in order to cap it off, I want  to close again with my modern day equivalent of the "props" section, the gratitude section:

–My dad for giving me a ride to the airport Friday. DFW is a mess, so anytime you can avoid parking is an incredible miracle. And while we're at it, both of my parents have always been supportive of their 28 year-old attorney son and anything he did.
–Pokemontoya for dealing out Yveltal, letting me borrow some crucial cards I left back in Houston, and pitching in a few bucks for his share of the hotel. I think this was the decisive moment that made me play Le Bird.
–The people who've humored testing against my Decidueye/Vileplume monstrosity even when it was an unproven mass of mold, as well as those who encouraged me to play it.
–ALL OF THE JOKES AND THE MEMES!!! As bad as it was to have Rowletts prized in the moment, this is honestly some of the most fun I've ever had with the online community. The only way it would've been better is if I somehow pulled that second game out. ;D
–Last but not least, all the people at home who were cheering me on. It's beyond flattering and I hope that no matter how I do in future tournaments, I never let you down.

 

Thanks so much!

-JK

 

PBS-style P.S.: Hey everyone! Did you perhaps win $10,000 in Melbourne today using Decidueye? Want to support top-notch, FREE articles over premium content pages with pay walls? Or maybe you just dig what we do and think we're cool dudes? If any of the above apply to you, mash that DONATE button! We have a lot of bigger, greater ideas we want to start bringing to you, including special tournaments, higher quality streams, new writers, and more, but it's only possible thanks to VIEWERS LIKE YOUUUUUUUU!

All Eyes on the Owl Guy Part One

Table of Contents

–Part One–
1. Pre-Tournament Thoughts and Calls
2. The List: Analysis and Explanations
3.1 Tournament Report, Rounds 1-7

1. Pre-Tournament Thoughts and Calls

As I explained last week, I was somewhat clueless on what to play. Decidueye remained a top contender for my choices going into Collinsville: Despite being the Expanded format, it was a deck I had very significant recent success with, had a ton of experience with, and knew that it had just as much – if not more! – potential in Expanded than Standard. It’s also the deck I had the most recent testing with, whereas with Maxie’s Yveltal or Seismitoad, I felt like I wasn’t entirely on the cutting edge of either of those decks’ latest incarnations.

However, I also said I thought Seismitoad-anything had real potential to do well, and certainly meant it. In some ways I was right: a Seismitoad/Decidueye and a Seismitoad/Giratina both made top 32, with the Seismitoad/Decidueye getting all the way to the top eight! I was also considering Seismitoad/Decidueye, but needed to give myself a good enough reason to play it. Here’s what I tested: a build which was a combination of several of my early ideas, coupled with some finer points made by Tyler R. a.k.a. superstarr on the boards:

For a while, I thought this might be better than Vileplume/Decidueye because let’s face it, Seismitoad EX works magic in Expanded. Despite being up against all sorts of strange matchups in our most recent HeyTrainer Online Tournament, I was able to secure victory in our expanded round robin. My red flag from those games, however, was how unconvincingly I seemed to win every single one of my games.

Fast forward to the night before Regionals. I’m now suddenly suffering from a bout of my greatest sin as a player: 11th hour theorymon. Whereas some players can work true wonders with final choices, I consistently run the risk of ruining whatever great tournament prospects I have by playing complete and utter garbage. That’s because at heart, I have always been a scrub: I like to find new ways to beat decks. In my adult years of playing the game, I’ve been able to channel this bad habit into stronger creative energies, but it’s still always there.

This bad habit of mine manifested itself into wanting to tech a single copy of Virizion EX to beat Archeops lock. With Weakness, a Muscle Band, and Emerald Slash for 140, I went nuts. “THIS…THIS IS WHAT WILL BREAK TOAD/DECIDUEYE!” I thought to myself, albeit with zero proof that it would. However, I've learned from my mistakes, so I did something 15 year-old me never would have done: I had my friend and roommate for the trip, Pokemontoya, test the matchup with me.

After five games, I went positive, but both the deck and Virizion's application were unconvincing. I never once broke open the Archeops threat by virtue of Virizion EX’s Emerald Slash. What makes matters worse is that even with the base list being “okay,” every game felt like a grind — the sort of grind I knew would have a toll on my record throughout a long tournament.

And that's when I had my epiphony:

“I miss Vileplume. If I had Vileplume, this series would have been much easier.”

So here we were, back to the deck that got me here in the first place. Like a kid calling for Mom in the grocery store, here I was again, calling for my beloved Vileplume. And thus, I decided to play the 'Plume again…

2. The List: Analysis and Explanation


 Despite heavily considering Seismitoad/Decidueye, I’ve actually been messing around with Expanded Decidueye/Vileplume for quite a long time, as well…as soon as I knew I needed a 10 Grass Evolution challenge in PTCGO, to be precise!

Changes from Standard to Expanded

— Old pre-Evolutions for Oddish and Gloom. Although this is a small detail, it can be monumentally important at just the right time. Water Resistance in the Expanded format is an incredible asset, especially when Greninja is a halfway playable deck here, and when Seismitoad EX is legal. Even better, the Gloom has two very handy Status-inducing Attacks: Foul Oder Confuses both itself and the Opponent’s Active Pokemon, while Poison Powder hits for a surprisingly potent 40 and Poisons the Defending Pokemon. This second detail is important, my friends, so consider this a case of

–Jirachi EX: In all my games at Anaheim, the only truly dead hands I ever had seemed to be ones where I had Level Ball. With Jirachi EX in the list however, I dramatically reduce the risk of drawing an outright unplayable hand, and add a fourth overall consistency Pokemon to my list. Since earlier versions of my Standard Decidueye/Vileplume ran four Shaymin, I actually felt right at home with this decision.

–Computer Search: This. This right here is the key to making Decidueye/Vileplume a much more powerful deck in Expanded as opposed to Standard. If I had the choice to change just one card, it would have been this. The power to search out ANYTHING instantly makes every aspect of this deck more consistent: finding a Stage Two line; finding Energy; getting Forest of Giant Plants onto the board. I could instantly tell in my first game on PTCGO that this deck benefits incredibly by a switch, and it’s consistency  you have to thank for that.

–Xerosic: Another important series of cards Decidueye gains from Expanded is a lineup of various methods to discard Tools off of Garbodor and other threats. I’ve discussed Beedrill to a certain extent, and while I may use it in the future, it’s still an overall grimy card to play when you’re starving for space in more important areas, i.e. consistency. Initially this slot started out as a Tool Scrapper, but as time went on, I greatly preferred the versatility of Xerosic: Discarding Energy is always good in a format where Special Energy thrives, and best of all, I can get it back and reuse it with Hollow Hunt!

Preference Changes

–Two Lugia EX: The one major preference change I made was going with two Lugia EX instead of one Lugia and one Tauros. First off, I rarely if ever use Mad Bull GX in this deck when chances are much higher my opponent will just find a way to outplay it. Second, Lugia is by far more synergetic with Decidueye, as Feather Arrow helps you get up to previously unheard of Damage totals. Deep Hurricane a 170 HP Yveltal EX for…150 and 20 more? Yes, please!

­–Jirachi XY67: Jirachi’s Stardust proved to be an inconclusive addition to my Standard list two weeks ago, so in my pursuit of covering all matchups, I determined that Xerosic would more or less give me what I needed in most matchups. Although I would have greatly benefitted from Jirachi’s Stardust in my final match of the weekend, I know it would have been useless against the vast majority of decks I went up against (not to mention my final match was totally winnable without Jirachi – see below). In other words, Jirachi was either useless at worst or “win more” at worst, which is ultimately why I sided with Xerosic as the 60th card.

Other Ideas for Expanded

These were the ideas I thought of, but deemed either not strong enough or too clunky:

–Battle Compressors + Revitalizers. This was the obvious Standard-to-Expanded turbo engine idea, the main gist of it being to discard needed Pokemon, and then bring them back while a Forest of Giant Plants is in play. The problem here is that in a deck list with two Stage Two Pokemon, you’re already using so much deck space, making the benefits of just a couple Battle Compressor questionable. Whereas Lurantis/Vileplume benefits greatly from this call, it actually has the space to make it happen much more easily.

(Of everything I tested, this is perhaps the one idea I could most likely be wrong about. I encourage you to test it, maybe cut some otherwise uncuttable cards, and then comment on the boards what works for you!)

— Pokemon Communications are very cool in Expanded Vileplume Toolbox decks, as it’s yet another out to Shaymin EX or your Evolution lines. However, it’s important to remember that your goal here is to get out multiple Evolutions, and not just Vileplume. That means that the benefits of a Pokemon Communication are greatly diminished when you’re shuffling in a piece of your Decidueye line in exchange for the Vileplume line, while running a Level Ball could help contribute to one without disrupting the other. Perhaps one idea you could mess with is cutting Level Balls for Communications, but ultimately I’m very happy to have run Level Balls.

–Lastly, an idea I strongly considered was running Blend Energy GRPD alongside tech attackers. This is actually an idea that was incorporated in the top eight list of Alex S., younger brother to HeyTrainer’s dapiplup/Chris S., a well-known player in his own right and SixPrizes.com mogul. Running Blend actually opened up a ton of new options, like Victini NVI (V-Create to OHKO Grass mirror), Latios EX (first turn wins), and even Darkrai EX (free retreat cost that doesn’t conflict with Hollow Hunt!!!). I ultimately turned against this idea because it was mostly untested, and because I wasn’t sure if the added attacking options outweighed the increased risks I had against Enhanced Hammer, Xerosic, and Jirachi’s Stardust.

2. 3. Tournament Report, Rounds 1-7

One thing I’m glad I did was to take a screenshot of all my matchups throughout the weekend. This is something you can access only at certain events by going to pokegym.net/stadium, choosing your event category and age division, and then entering in your POP ID.

Round 1: VS Tim Duncan (Yveltal EX)

Ahhhh yes, the San Antonio Spurs great himself is here to play Pokemon with his son!


(…Well, not quite – Tim Duncan only plays D&D.)

Game One: I got out a convincing, quick lock turn one, including a Decidueye and Vileplume turn one, followed up by another Decidueye turn two. There wasn’t much he could do, and scooped promptly.

Game Two: Tim went first this game, and for the most part had a pretty strong opening with Max Elixirs. Although my follow-up wasn’t quite as strong as the first game, featuring a Dartrix and Vileplume by turn two, a lucky N on his part got me the hand I needed to explode and take control of the game to his two Yveltal EX’s. (1-0)


Round 2: VS Ian Holbrook (Yveltal EX/Umbreon EX)

This was a more unusual Yveltal build, featuring a tech Umbreon line. The whole structure of the list felt more at home in Standard than in Expanded, but I suppose you could say the same about my deck. Plus, he put up a good fight. 

Game One: I don’t remember who went first this game, but I do know two things: A) his start wasn’t’ strong; and B) Computer Search is manna from heaven in a deck running two Stage Two Pokemon, as I pulled yet another incredible early game start. Just like the first round’s first game, I forced a very early concession.

Game Two: Yet again, my opponent blows up with an early lead, while I twiddle my thumbs and wait to catch up. However, also for the second time I play serious catch-up, and Vileplume results in dragging his deck’s speed down dramatically. We get into a weird spot when he Lysandre lures up my Vileplume with no Float Stone, but that just lets me set up my board, attach Energy to Attackers, and add Damage to his own via Feather Arrow. Most importantly, I was able to follow up my KO’d Vileplume with a brand new Vileplume, keeping any chance of a comeback subdued. (2-0)


Round 3: VS TJ Tranquir (Sableye/Garbodor) — streamed match

TJ Tranquir is a friend and testing partner of Drew Allen’s, who you might remember from Ghetsis’s Hidden Past piece. TJ has a reputation for playing the spiciest decks: He was a prime beneficiary of the Yveltal mirror wars last season, and has played Wailord – a similar deck to Sableye – to great success. I can’t find the video of our match, but I’ll update it when I get a chance. This may also lead to some updates in my match descriptions, as actual video footage details the match more accurately than my imperfect memory ever could.

Game One: Game one is a very quick blowout. I get out a quick Vileplume, he hits Tails on every flip to Confuse Ray, and I close it out quickly.

Game Two: This game draws out a lot more slowly as I miss an early VIleplume, but ultimately I think this came down to him having the perfect game plan to combat my counter to Garbodor. See, there are multiple layers to these interactions…

1. In Standard, he’d get out Garbodor and without a hard KO, I’d lose the Abilities forever. BUT…
2. This is Expanded, so I’ve got ways to discard his Float Stone easily. BUT ALSO…
3. Hex Maniac is still legal, and his whole deck is themed around getting stuff back. So he can use his Items even if I break Garbotoxin.

Thus, the matchup when played with perfect starts depends on whether I kill his Trubbishes and Garbodors in time to avoid his permanent Ability lock. In my early attempt to get out Plume previously, I made a greedy play using a low-card Set Up in the desire to get the lock, only to whiff the ‘Plume entirely. This may have cost me the game, as when I finally did have a sufficient setup, my bench was clogged with one more Shaymin that could have otherwise been a second Decidueye GX. Having a second Decidueye GX could have helped me in my aforementioned three-step battle because I was able to N him out of his Hex/Float Stone combo for a couple turns, coming close to cutting him out of Garbodor for good thanks to Feather Arrows. Had I had one more Decidueye on the board instead of two, I would have had double chances to Feather Arrow. However, my greed ultimately cost me, and he won the struggle with his Hex.


As soon as I established that it would only be a matter of time before he won, I scooped immediately. That’s because I had zero interest in continuing a game I was certain to lose, when I actually still had an incredible chance of finishing this otherwise great matchup with a win. So with about 15 minutes left on the clock, we shuffled up and dealt…

Game Three: TJ’s hand is very weak, to the point where he’s Sky Returning instead of being able to use Sableye. I think I won this game on turn four or five with a Lugia EX to the face of a lonely Sableye. (3-0)


In the end it worked out or me, but I think that greed game two could have cost me if things were different. It’s a strange balance with this deck between being conservative and aggressive, but I think in those key moments where you know your decision could backfire, it’s important to think through all the ramifications of digging for a Vileplume as opposed to settling for a semi-decent board position you’re certain will be good by turn two.  I don’t think anyone could blame me for bleeding for a Vileplume in a matchup that’s 100% Item-dependent, but I also know I could’ve thought it out a little more carefully, even if the ideal decision was to Set Up for one.

This sort of thing is the unsung skill in the game: The art of playing perfectly vs simply not misplaying. And while I didn’t misplay, I also didn’t play perfectly either.

Round 4: VS Dimitri (Turbo Darkrai EX)

Game One: Like so many games on the weekend, I got out an extremely fast lock, forcing a scoop after some time.

Game Two: In perhaps the most incredible Darkrai start I’ve seen in a while,  Dimitri goes an impressive 4/4 on Max Elixir, two Dark Patches, and an attachment on the first turn while not actually going too far deep into his deck! I think I dragged this game on much longer than I should have, accepting way too late that I was just too far behind to justify continuing this game.

Game Three: This was actually a pretty close match, with me being somewhat slow to get the setup, actually missing the turn one ‘Plume. This gives him a chance to build up his army of darkness, but I’m able to keep things from getting too out of control by following up with a strong second turn. I remember this game coming down to time, and with only the +3 left, I N myself down to two to hit a fateful final Energy card to attach to Lugia for the win. I somehow rip it, and continue my undefeated streak. (4-0)


Round 5: VS Wesley H. (Turbo Darkrai EX/Malamar EX)

Game One: I go first, draw and incredibly powerful hand, and win quickly.

Game Two:  I go second, draw a horrible hand, and get blown away.

Game Three: I go first, draw an incredibly powerful hand, and win quickly. (5-0)

Round 6: VS Dean N. (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)
 
Ah, so this is where things get more interesting than “draw big or go home”!

Game one: he actually gets off the plume lock first, but I have a strong opening start, and am able to match his attackers blow-for-blow. This matchup gets interesting when both players set up because while Lurantis is the only card with any real one-shot potential, it is much less efficient than Lugia EX, which two-shots it easily for far less resources, and only marginally efficient than Decidueye GX, which is a Stage Two Pokemon with about the same Damage output. What makes things worse for Lurantis is that at just the wrong moment, it can be forced into a three-shot scenario against Lugia EX after Chloroscythe GX has been used: the initial Flower Supply, the Solar Blade, and then the OHKO attack. That’s more or less how the game plays out, and my attackers outmuscle his.

Game two: I get slaughtered by Item lock.

Game three: He gets slaughtered by item lock…what an interactive game! (6-0)

Round 7: (Lurantis GX/Vileplume)

Game One: My opponent has a horrible draw-pass start going first with an Oddish and an Energy. Hungry for the turn one win, I make what’s perhaps my worst play of the tournament: After Trainers’ Mailing a Computer Search and thinning the rest of my hand, rather than settling for a medium-strength Shaymin EX and keeping my options open depending on what I drew, I instead Computer Search right away into one of the two pieces I need to win – the Float Stone – expecting I hit either the second piece or a Draw Supporter off of my full-strength Set Up for six cards. To my horror, I not only whiff the Double Colorless Energy or a Draw Supporter, but draw a completely unplayable six cards! This then results in an awkward draw-pass period of two turns from both of us, only for him to draw out of his awful hand, get out Vileplume and Lurantis, and win the game! Sad!

Game Two:  This goes a lot like my first game with Dean. Although it’s surprisingly rare for both decks to set up when they’re each fighting for Item lock, I think that Decidueye’s versatility and raw power gives it much more options than Lurantis.

Game Three:  He gets up turn one Vileplume, and I’m struggling to keep in the game. I have zero draw supporters or Decidueye in play. However, by sheer luck and strength through Lugia EX, I’m able to keep this a super-close game, but unfortunately never draw into the Owl or the draw to close this game out. Lugias by themselves with nothing to support them aren’t enough to beat Lurantis, even if they trade well, so I lost this one. (6-1)

I was a little mad at myself for making yet another greedy play, the difference being that this one was entirely wrong and shouldn’t have even been considered, let alone executed! But considering I was a mere game away from making day two, now was not the time to get flustered. Part of playing well is forgiving yourself and learning from your bad plays…

(Continue to Part Two)

Collinsville Runner Up Decidueye List

(Please don't prize me!)

You guys know the drill: I'll be posting a tournament report either tomorrow or Thursday, but for now I'm gonna let y'all stew over the list I used to place second in a field of over 700 players!

 

We'll go over the development and history of this Expanded deck list in the tournament report. However, all in all I think it runs much more smoothly in Expanded, even if the card choices aren't all that different.

It’s Tuesday and I Don’t Know What to Play

The constant Regionals carousel is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, there is always something significant going on throughout the season, and you can “hop on” after a lengthy period of inactivity at almost any point during the first half of the season. On the other hand, staying up to date and well-practiced with both formats is easier said than done.

We’re a mere four days away from the Regional Championship in Collinsville, and I can safely say that…I don’t feel safe. At all. Whereas my last tournament prediction article was fairly confident, I have little clue what to play. Since I’m sure hundreds of other people are in the exact same position as I am,  thought that rather than offer hardline recommendations on what to play, I could help you through the thought process of choosing a deck – the exact same process which I’m going through right now.

The Difficulties of Moving from Standard to Expanded

For the most part, competitive players live in Standard. It’s the format for at least 70% of smaller tournaments, a majority of Regional Champoinships, all Intercontinental Championships, and the World Championships.  For that reason, it’s often a difficult shift from Standard to Expanded, especially since Expanded has many, many more sets at its disposal…15 main sets, two mini-sets, and 100 promos, to be precise!

1. Different metagame

More variety means more decks, and you’ve got at your disposal the entire history of the last five years. That means some of these decks are older than your children! And your results depend much more heavily on your metagame calls, since some decks are incredibly powerful in the face of unprepared fields.


…Deck and Covers, to be precise.

A good example is Mikey Fouchet’s second place victory at Pennsylvania earlier this season with Accelgor. Ever since this card’s release, the game’s creators have only released more and more hate towards auto-Paralysis, including Pokemon Center Lady, AZ, Keldeo EX/Float Stone, Virizion EX, Wonder Energy, Steel Shelter, Olympia, and even Big Malasada!


(…Well, maybe not.)

You would think that with all these easily-splashable hard counters, Accelgor would never have a place at any tournament where it’s legal. Yet Mikey made the call and profited from the decision. Plus, you’ve only got so many copies of a hate card before it runs out, especially if you’re not hard-teching for Deck and Cover. We also see the same happen with other classic decks of days gone by, including new versions of Eelektrik NVI and Sableye DEX: Even if a deck gains nothing after release of a new set, it could still be a great choice by virtue of the choices everyone else is making.


I've been swimmin' in formats longer than you've been swimmin' in papa.

2. Card Interactions

Of course, new sets coming out can also result in old favorites becoming much more playable. Continuing with our example of Accelgor, it’s changed a lot ever since initial release:

2012: Accelgor/Chandelure NVI/Vileplume UD (can be nearly 100% replicated now thanks to Vileplume AOR)
2013: Accelgor/Gothitelle EOP
2014: Accelgor/Trevenant XY
2015-present: Accelgor/Wobbuffet PHF/other partners

Think about that for a moment: in the half-decade since Accelgor first came out, it’s had at least four very successful iterations, winner more scholarships and cash combined than you may make in a year! That’s because with everything the card pool theoretically took away, the card pool gave back in other avenues. It’s another story entirely if you get the benefits for early adoption of a new variant or idea for the immediate Regional, but playing with your choices and exploring new options can make Expanded feel like the fun mess that it is.

Leading by Following: Relying on the Constants

It’s four days until Collinsville Regionals and a new set is out, yet I still feel somewhat blind. Even as an old school player, it’s still hard to account for not only the latest card interactions, but the trends of the metagame. If Anaheim’s Regional Championship is anything to go by, constantly successful decks work. Of course if my or Drew Kennett’s performances at Anaheim are anything to go by, new decks can work, too. 

Based on a combination of hype and proven results, here is what I consider a good last-minute gauntlet for Collinsville:

Yveltal/Maxie’s
Turbo Darkrai
Trevenant
Darkrai/Giratina
Raikou/Eels
Accelgor
Toadbats
Decidueye/Seismitoad EX
Greninja
Night March
Zygarde/Carbink
Sableye/Garbodor
Primal Groudon
Wailord
Lurantis GX variants
Solgaleo GX variants

Those are a lot of decks, but I’m convinced that if what you play can beat most or even all of the above decks, then you as an individual have a really good chance of winning Regionals this weekend. Of course, that’s just the thing, isn’t? It’s so hard to find something capable of so much metagame coverage, but I think I have four things that will be respectable options: Yveltal/Maxie’s, Decidueye-something, Lurantis-something, or Seismitoad-anything.

1. Something Old

In the face of such an overwhelmingly large, complex metagame, the first and perhaps simplest choice is to run Yveltal/Maxie’s. The advantages are that it’s a proven deck, you beat many fringe rogue ideas that could pop up, and you know a lot of mirror will be at Collinsville, making designing your list easier. The main disadvantage is that you have a very big target on your back. At Anaheim’s Standard format Regional Championship, a lot of decks were prime contenders to win that tournament, and I’m confident that if there are alternate universes, there’s a pretty nice spread of decks winning between each of those universes. For the instant Regional, everyone is thinking about Yveltal as a threat, even if it’s not their choice, potentially starving its maximum potential. As a result, we’ll be getting either one of two possibilities: an Yveltal/Maxie tag-team beat down, or a whole lot of insurgent decks making day two and perhaps even winning.

 Then there’s the other way to look at choosing “something old” – choosing the deck you know best. That doesn’t necessarily mean playing your favorite deck, but maybe running the deck you yourself have had the most success with in the past, or you’re most skilled at piloting. This makes Yveltal/Maxie’s an attractive choice to me, as I’ve been using Yveltal since it came out. This also makes Decidueye an attractive option since it just won me money at my first and only regional this season.

2. Something New

 Speaking of Decidueye…running something new has its advantages, as well. Barring that leafy, ghosty owl I love so much, very few things in Sun and Moon are getting much attention. In all of our rush to “beat tier one,” perhaps we’re ignoring the powerful new possibilities there are? One deck that jumps out to me as being a uniquely good choice in Expanded is Lurantis GX. I know I’m not the only writer who feels this way, but it has great matchups against several of the above-listed decks, including Yveltal, Toadbats, and Trevenant.  Additionally, threats such as Ability lock and even Evolution lock aren’t nearly as potential as they normally would be: Lurantis GX is a self-reliant Stage One Pokemon, so its own necessity for Abilities is fairly low, and its Ability to Hex Maniac its way out of Archeops is a real threat.

3. Something Blue

 Finally, there’s Seismitoad EX. While I haven’t seen the old Toad put up big results at Expanded Regionals this season, it is a constant this format and will continue to do well for as long as it’s legal. No other card gets the most goodies out of an Expanded with Sun and Moon legal than the Quaking Punch monster: in addition to Decidueye GX as a possible alternative to Toadbats, you get Tauros GX as an incredible backup attacker, and Team Skull Grunt as a new way to starve your opponent of resources. Thus, as we discussed earlier with Accelgor, decks that get the most additions to their arsenal when an expansion come out typically do well, making Seismitoad with anything a really respectable call.

Like Lurantis, you could theoretically go very deep into the tournament with a Seismitoad list that’s strong against the mirror. My only concern is that most Seismitoad variants struggle a lot against many of the above-listed decks – perhaps explaining why it hasn’t put up the results that Yveltal has.
 
Conclusion

 I hope my thought process helps you crystallize your own deck choice for the Collinsville Regional if you’re going. In situations like these where you feel lost, it’s incredibly helpful not just to have a variety of good choices available, but to know what makes them good choices in the first place.

‘Til next time, Trainers.

Social Saturdays 1 – Encyclopedia HTanica

In an effort to explore the Pokemon TCG community, “Social Saturdays” strives to better explain or understand important aspects of the community's player base.


(Chansey's reaction upon seeing the entry for "Full Throttle")

SOCIAL SATURDAYS: ENCYCLOPEDIA HTANICA, Volume I

About Encyclopedia HTanica

There are certain terms and abbreviations in the Pokemon TCG community that are common knowledge. However,  to many newer players these are as good as an indecipherable foreign language. In this inaugural edition of Social Saturdays, we'll be defining some of those commonly used terms and abbreviations which define the "lingo" of Pokemon TCG. With very limited exception, we are avoiding placing player or card names as individual entries.

Encyclopedia HTanica is far from complete! Since this is a Patriarch-authored entry, we'll be hearing and evaluating future suggestions for terms that should be included in a future edition. So feel free to discuss on the boards or just message me.

THE LIST


6P: Short for SixPrizes, a competitive Pokemon TCG website focused primarily on premium subscriber content. Has a separate scans website called pkmncards.com.

Bad Deck Monday: a weekly stream/YouTube segment run by The Top Cut (see below) featuring a strange or unusual deck concept.

Battle Roads: Small local tournaments initially worth significant points, but scaled down over time.

Beach: Short for Pokebeach, a Pokemon website focused primarily on Pokemon TCG news. Has a premium subscriber program.

Bubble: To miss on a top cut by a single spot; also applies to swiss-only events where a person misses out on prizes due to opponent’s resistance.

City Championship (defunct): A smaller, area-wide event. Largely replaced by League Cups (see below).

CotD: Card of the Day, or discussions of single cards meant to produce new content for websites. Popularized by Pojo.com in the late 1990s, and still frequently used by websites like 60cards.

Day Two: The second day of play in a large event. Usually comprised of 32 players.

DCE: Double Colorless Energy

Donk: A lucky, fast win. Originally applied only to turn one wins, but has since been interpreted less rigidly.

Grinder (defunct): Last chance qualifier tournaments which granted top finishers entry into the Pokemon TCG World Championships from 2002-2014. As of writing, these are no longer held.

HeyFonte Classic (see Virbank City Gym): Facebook group organized in the early 2010s meant to offer a a hub for HeyTrainer and LaFonte users. Ultimately resulted in the siphoning of Pokegym users.

HeyFonte Modern (active): Facebook group organized in the mid-2010s meant to offer a competitive replacement or Virbank.

HT: HeyTrainer.org, of course!

LaFonte (mostly defunct): a private message board turned private Facebook group comprised of several successful Pokemon players and their friends.

League Challenge: A small local tournament worth marginal prizes and points. Also the spiritual successor to Battle Roads.

League Cup: A smaller, area-wide event. Also the spiritual successor to City Championships. Confusingly has the same acronym as League Challenges.

Mapping: The ability to narrow down the contents of Pokemon TCG booster packs in a sealed booster box based on a pattern. Highly controversial, but largely exaggerated in its seriousness and primarily used by goons for clickbait. The louder cousin to Scaling(see below).

Mid-season rotation: a special incident in June of 2011 when Play! Pokemon determined that a format rotation was necessary prior to the U.S. National Championships.

Modified: Refers to the modified-set formatting imposed by Play! Pokemon official events, excluding certain older sets from use. Currently divided into “Standard” (only the most recent sets) and “Expanded” (all sets beginning with Black and White).

OHKO: one-hit Knock Out.

OP: "Organized Play." Usually refers to the official Play! Pokemon, but can refer to local tournaments and alternate organized play such as ARG.

P!P: “Play! Pokemon,” the official event-organizing branch of The Pokemon Company International.

Poke-Dad/Poke-Mom: A parent of a competitive Pokemon Trading Card Game player — usually in one of the younger age divisions. Associated with non-competitiveness, although the game has at least two very successful Poke-parents as players.

Pojo: A competitive hobby website, once famous for its Pokemon page.

Pokegym: Pokemon Message board run by Team Compendium. See also WizPOG and Psylum's.

Prof-it: A mostly-defunct YouTube channel for Pokemon TCG content. Has since been incorporated into a part of the larger Jwittz YouTube channel.

Psylum's Pokegym: The original incarnation of the Pokegym (see above).

Scaling: The use of a scale to determine the contents of Pokemon TCG booster packs. Highly controversial, with most suspiciously good pulls posts met with a hearty "weigh to go!"

Swiss: Preliminary rounds preceding a top cut which pair opponents of similar win-loss records against one-another. Sometimes functions as its own tournament

Tag Team: The Father-Son mascots of HeyTrainer.org.

TC/Team Compendium: The group which makes and compiles rulings for the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Their rulings are considered authoritative in all official events. Considered quasi-official by Play! Pokemon, you can see the current and past rosters here.

Top Cut: The final remaining players in a tournament who are paired in single-elimination match play.

The Top Cut (defunct): A once-prominent Pokemon TCG streaming and live-casting group. Also the original premium content website. Not to be confused with a tournament’s top cut (see above).

Top Deck: To draw the exact card you need.

Virbank City Gym: The modern incarnation of HeyFonte. Changed its name once the administration decided the page no longer reflected "HeyTrainer" or "LaFonte."

Whiff: To not draw into a crucial card you need.

WizPOG: "Wizards Pokegym," the official Pokemon Trading Card Game message board during the Wizards of the Coast days. See also Pokegym.



A Simple Proposal to Premium Website Subscribers

We hope you've enjoyed our articles over these past two weeks! In the brief time we've been back, the HeyTrainer blog has highlighted format-changing cards, offered highly accurate recommendations for deck choices, and produced thorough deck profiles. The concept here is simple: advance the community, and offer premium content for free.

To be clear, we're going to keep on hammering away at this content, and it's only going to get better. However, the more assistance we receive, the more ambitious and expansive we can get. Therefore, we have a simple proposal to anyone reading this blog who currently subscribes to a premium article website:

If you find that the quality of our free content is higher than the quality of the content you pay for on your premium article website, then donate us half the cost of your subscription, and note which site you're immigrating from! So if you pay $10 a month to read stuff behind a paywall, but find that the general quality of our content is better, then consider clicking that "donate" button at the bottom of each blog entry and passing us $5. Believe us: That $5 goes a long way to maintain and improve the site, as well as create opportunities for its members and the community at large.

It's your call whether you'll keep your subscription and donate to us, cancel your membership and donate, or not donate at all. Either way, we'll still be here for you.

~HT

Ghetsis’ Hidden Past, by Drew Allen

“Ghetsis's Hidden Past” –The History Behind Ghetsis in Expanded, and Teching for the Future

By Drew Allen

            Hey, HeyTrainer readers. I’m Drew, and this is my first ever article here. I’ve been interested in taking up the “pen” in the Pokémon article community for a while, and I’m thankful John’s given me the opportunity. I’m super excited to share the cool history of this card, as well as a little bit of insight into teching as a whole. Without further ado, let's get into it.

GOING BACK

1. The “Birth” of Ghetsis: a Slow Start

            For the majority of its competitive life, Ghetsis has been thought to be (and for the most part was) a mediocre card. Those of you who started playing after BLW-PLS probably don’t remember, but the hype for this card before release was pretty crazy – think Decidueye GX hype, but for a Supporter. With so many strong Item cards in the format like Pokémon Catcher, Hypnotoxic Laser, Random Receiver, Ultra Ball, Dark Patch, and Rare Candy, this card made perfect sense. Having the ability to disrupt your opponent’s Items through denial, lock or otherwise, has always been strong. Plus, you get to draw for as many Items as they have? Unreal!
            However, back when Ghetsis just came out, the format was so heavily Supporter-based that a lot of the time you would Ghetsis for very few cards at the cost of setting up, and then your opponents would just Juniper or N themselves, set up their board, and win. Now you’re in a bit of a pickle, because instead of setting up yourself you just used your turn trying to disrupt your opponent to no avail. So for the time being the card was dead. Therefore, not many people played it.

2. An Impressive Showing

            That is, however, until Worlds later that year where Chase Moloney, a close personal friend and in my opinion one of the best players to ever touch the game, snagged an outstanding top sixteen finish with two copies of the card in his deck – his first year in Masters, nonetheless. How did such a card go from being mediocre, to being worth 2 spots in his list?

            It was all because of a very important shift in format. Long story short, Gothitelle/Accelgor gained Float Stone and became one of the strongest decks in the format, going on to win U.S. Nationals that year, so for Worlds a lot of players were thinking, “How do I beat this deck”? Paralysis is by far the strongest status effect in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and combined with Item lock seemed unbeatable. That is, until people started to figure out that Keldeo EX’s Rush In can be combined with Float Stone, or Darkrai EX’s Dark Cloak to get a “Rush In Retreat” effect to get a fresh, non-Paralyzed attacker, and it was just as effective as it sounds. Darkrai now had a viable answer to Gothitelle, as well as being one of the strongest attackers in the format. In addition, not relying on Float Stone/Keldeo meant that missing both Tool Scrapper and Float Stone before Gothitelle hit the field didn’t mean the end of the world.

        So what does Ghetsis have to do with all this?  Flloat Stone/Keldeo, high Random Receiver counts, and Dark Patches made Darkrai vulnerable to Ghetsis. Chase then decided to play to beat those strong players in a mirror match with two Ghetsis, and with several mirror wins throughout the weekend, he proved that Ghetsis as a mirror tech performed effectively.

GHETSIS RESURECTION

1. The Texas Marathon Boys

            Fast-forward to winter 2014. Ghetsis had seen very little play for the past 6 months. However, players then found a reason to gather for one of the most grueling, fun, and potentially rewarding events of the year: the Texas Marathon. For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, the Texas marathon was a tournament series that happened once a year, with at least five City Championships over the span of one week. This of course meant you had an abundance of points to be earned, but also an abundance of top players gunning for those same points.

           Jeremy Jallen, Kevin Murphy, and of course Chase Moloney were all there ready to win some titles, and Ghetsis found his return. In Jeremy’s case, Ghetsis turned out to be a way to beat the Virizion/Genesect mirror. Holding onto your G-Booster, Energy Switches, and Tool Scrapper for just the right moment was how you went about winning this matchup,  but having them shuffled back into the deck was a huge detriment to your opponent. Thus, Ghetsis rejoined the ranks of the top tables.

          A good tech card helps against select matchups, including the mirror, while a GREAT tech card helps against everything.  The metagame for the Texas marathon was a combination of Genesect, Plasma, Darkrai, and Blastoise – all decks which struggle to Ghetsis.  As a group, the Texas Marathon Boys ended up winning four City Championship wins, with Jeremy and Kevin taking one each, and Chase taking two. Later that winter, Jeremy went 7-0 at a Regionals in the Genesect mirror, finishing at 8th losing to a completely unrelated autoloss matchup. 

        Unfortunately, Ghetsis for whatever reason fell off the face of the Earth yet again, and for a long time went underplayed in Standard and Expanded.

2. “Card’s Straight Broken”

            At this point we’ve gone through a bunch of the Ghetsis’s history, as well as the reasons for why we teched it. Now let’s talk about the season Ghetsis became a format-defining staple:

          Fast-forward: It's the Fall of 2015, and Ghetsis has been dead for over a year. This is mostly because of rotation, but I also think it's because it has seen no real reason to be played in Expanded…at least up to this point. Here I am in Houston with TJ Traquair  and long-time HeyTrainer forum member Kale Chalifoux, two of my best friends in the game. Houston Regionals is tomorrow, and we're figuring out what to play when TJ drops this spooky Seismitoad/Giratina/Musharna list on me. It looks awesome, and I’m always down to play something spooky. So we’re playing a few games in the lobby, testing against Yveltal, Night March, and the mirror. They’re all testing well…that is, until we start playing against Blastoise. The deck was too fast – what else was there for us to do? TJ and I are then racking our brains over this and I’m honestly thinking of just playing Yveltal with Hex Maniac instead of taking an autoloss to a deck that just won a World Championship earlier in August of 2015.

            Then Kale pipes up: “What about Ghetsis”?

            "Holy moly, Kale – that might work." On paper it destroys Blastoise, right? So we try it: 1 Jirachi EX for searching Supporters, 1 Computer Search…and 1 Ghetsis. It turns out that Ghetsis to Quaking Punch is awful for any Blastoise deck, not to mention the added help it gives in just about every other matchup. So we keep it low key, because there’s a ton of top players at this event, including Jason Klaczynski, Michael Pramawat, Azul Garcia, and John Kettler. So we all agree that nobody should be saying Ghetsis, and from here on out let it be known only as “The Boy”™.

            So we play a bunch more games with The Boy™, and he’s still just as good as we’d thought he’d be. I then remembered talking to Israel Sosa earlier that week about how he was going to be playing in California the same day we were playing in Houston. So I hit him up asking how he plans on dealing with Blastoise, assuming he was playing his signature Yveltal deck. He told me, “I’ll be playing Frozen City and Hex Maniac.”

            I then empower him with the knowledge and strength that is “The Boy” ™, at which Sosa goes nuts. We all then do great in Houston, while Sosa steamrolls his entire tournament in California. Ghetsis in turn starts steamrolling the entire globe, and thus, The Boy™ is born.

LOOKING AHEAD AT SUN AND MOON

Touching on teching

            I’d like to start off by saying that using critical thinking to analyze how some cards might be utilized as mirror techs – or otherwise – is something that’s good to practice whether you’ve been playing Pokemon since it started, or just picked it up last month. Honestly it’s kind of fun going through legal sets to see if there’s answers to specific problems a deck presents, and it’s a skill a lot of top players use. There are a lot of potential tech opportunities, but I’m going to talk about two big ones I’ve seen out of the latest Sun and Moon expansion:

Skarmory

            First off we have Skarmory, which for a DCE discards all special energy in play. Seems pretty good; however, a ton of our metagame right now is basic energy. Volcanion, Speed dark, Lurantis, M-Gardevoir, are all popular concepts that this card would be pretty useless against. Even the decks that run special energy like Vespiquen, Yveltal, and M-Rayquaza can play around it. However, there’s been talk of a Solgaleo/Dark/Giratina deck going around, and I think Skarmory has the potential to be a top tier against that in the right list.  So let’s say for example this deck gains some ground and becomes a part of the metagame, which I think is definitely a possibility. You’ve then decided to pick up this deck, but you expect a decent amount of others at your League Cup are also going to pick up the deck.

            Easy solution? One Skarmory. You simply let your opponent set up and use their GX attack before you, drop Skarmory with a DCE, Ultra Road it into the active and discard 5 (10) energy with one attack. Seems like a pretty decent tech in the right meta, and while Magaerna will probably see some play in the deck a well timed silent lab or hex maniac to discard 5 energy is a great tradeoff.  This is also to say nothing of how devastating Skarmory can be situationally against Darkrai/Giratina, which just won Anaheim Regionals.


 Tauros GX

            Another card which is already picking up steam in Standard, and will certainly be played in Expanded as many players' go-to GX is Tauros GX. A lot of top tier decks in Expanded run DCE, including Yveltal, Toad/Bats, and Night March. Something Toad Bats and Night March have in common is a poor Item Lock matchup, specifically to Trevenant XY. However, Tauros GX is a very effective counter to Trevenant: It attacks for one Energy, and easily revenge-kills Trevenants. Even under T1 Item lock your energy requirement is low, plus Rage and Horn Attack effectively counter Trevenant’s mediocre damage output on a singular Pokémon. In addition, if your opponent doesn’t have any other Phantumps on the board, using Mad Bull early can be a great option to potentially give youself a few turns without having to worry about being under Item lock.

            Tauros GX in general is good to have in your deck if you’re running DCE because being able to utilize such a strong GX Attack is an opportunity that’s tough to pass up. It may not be as splashable as Ghetsis, but it certainly has splashability in its own right. Tauros, like Ghetsis, can win tons of games by itself, in perhaps healthier ways than Ghetsis can be.

Ghetsis’s Bright Future

 

            As for The Boy ™ himself? I’m still personally playing it in every deck I run. Sableye/Garbodor has gained a lot of play, and as long as Yveltal/Maxie’s is a threat to your deck, you now have a way to win as early as the first turn. For players in general, I think Ghetsis will see tons of play in both Collinsville and Portland. It’s got a strong, bright future, and unless we see a format rotation in Expanded, it’ll stay around for a long time.

My Eye on Anaheim Part 2

“My Eye on Anaheim: Top 16 Masters Report with Decidueye/Vileplume”
Today’s tournament report is written with players of all skill levels in mind, as well as lay people who know nothing about Pokémon cards! Whether you’re here for the story or the strategy, I hope all of you who take the time to read this report enjoy it very much. Most of all, I hope it all makes sense!

Table of Contents:

–Part 2–
6. The Journey to Anaheim
7. The Tournament Report
8. Some Final Thoughts on the Deck, and Ideas Going into Collinsville
9. Conclusion

6. The Journey to Anaheim

For those unaware, my trip to Anaheim almost didn’t happen. I got an unfortunate notice from my airline that my flight had been CANCELLED due to historic rainfall and even flooding throughout much of Southern California. I queued myself up for the only standby flight option available, but knew this was a long shot. So while on the hunt for Chicken McNuggets (I get a strange craving for them every time I go to an airport), I stumbled upon my airline’s customer service counter. By chance there was a new option available: a one-stop flight going through Chicago and then to Los Angeles! I hopped on it almost immediately, and while it was certainly much longer and less comfortable than my original direct flight was intended to be, it was my only chance to play.

Thanks to my incredible friends Alec and Robby, I actually had a ride waiting for me at LAX! Things were all around coming up Milhouse, and my tournament was on.


This image is oddly appropriate for today’s entry

7. The Tournament Report

Round One: VS Volcanion

I played against a LOT of Volcanion decks1

Game One: I go first and miss the turn one Vileplume Item lock. However, his start isn’t particularly explosive either, and so I’m able to get out both a Decidueye GX and Vileplume by turn two. I then proceed to win what should be an otherwise unwinnable matchup in a relatively unconventional manner: I use Lysandre to force one of his three Retreat cost Volcanion EX into the active position, and slowly whittle down his energized Volcanion EX with Feather Arrow. This buys me time to set up a second Decidueye GX, and about six turns in, I’ve taken out both his Volcanion EX. It’s a very slow way to win, taking well over 30 minutes, but it gets the job done.

Game Two: This game his start is much faster while mine is considerably slower, resulting in a quick early lead for him. I keep myself above water (above steam?) with my Lugia EX and Tauros GX, keeping his Volcanion EX in check. At about the mid-point marker in the game, where I just began to gain back control with my delayed start to Vileplume, time was called, and I won the match. (1-0)

Round Two: VS Volcanion

Game One: My opponent’s list had a couple neat variations which made it unique, including a tech Zoroark line and Hex Maniac. Unfortunately he seemed to struggle to get these out or get to play them at the right time, and had an awful opening start to boot. My start wasn’t too great either, with neither Supporters nor Shaymin EX outs, but fortunately I got out a turn one Decidueye GX. So then I improvised by using my Hollow Hunt GX on the first turn, grabbing back the two Trainers’ Mail I used to set up my Decidueye previously. Those Trainers’ Mail in turn nabbed me a Sycamore and a Level Ball, getting me out of the awful start and into a board with multiple Decidueye GX’s and a Vileplume. I won quickly from there.

Game Two: I go second yet again, and while my opponent’s start is – for the second time – much stronger, I draw into an incredible chain that lets me streamline all of my Stage Two Pokémon very early, again locking him out of the game. (2-0)


Round Three: VS Volcanion

Game One: Unlike the previous lists, this one ran a copy of Entei AOR (Combat Blaze), offering my opponent a viable non-EX attacking option against my deck. Unfortunately for him, I got the lock out and just benched him.

Game Two: Our starts weren’t particularly bad this game, but his fast Entei, multiple successful Max Elixirs, and multiple Float Stones on multiple Volcanion EX’s turn one before my Vileplume lock made solving this game a real puzzle. I never at any point thought I was 100% out of it until the very last turn, and a couple whiffs on Lysandre or Energy for Steam Up could’ve kept me alive, but this was the only Volcanion game of the tournament where my opponent’s superior setup just overran me.

Game Three: In what might be one of my best hands of the tournament, I set up a combined two Decidueye and Vileplume on turn one, allowing me to blaze through his deck in record time. (3-0)


Rounds Four and Five: VS Volcanion

Unfortunately, it’s at this point where my memory gets incredibly fuzzy. I just found it so incredible that I would pair against this seemingly “bad” matchup five times in a row, systematically dismantling all of them. However, I won the first match in a similar manner to rounds one through three, and was only a turn off from winning the fifth match. The fourth list was pretty normal, while the fifth list had a couple fun Sun and Moon choices like Lillie. (4-0-1)


Round Six: VS Mega Ray

My only losses the entire weekend were to this ugly, overgrown Groundhog-Snake thing

Game One: This matchup was a big motivation behind my decision to run Jirachi, and the Jirachi was helpful in staving off his early start. However, due to a couple Forest of Giant Plants being prized, and being unable to draw my other two, my Vileplume lock took far too long to set up in order to stay ahead of my opponent. I sure was missing those Reserved Tickets!

Once I finally got my lock going, including a fat Dragonite EX out in the active, he already had an Olympia sitting in his hand to switch out! I conceded pretty quickly after that.

Game Two: I drew a bad opening hand and got stomped! (4-1-1)


Round Seven: VS Turbo Darkrai

Game One: My heart sunk a bit when all I saw was a line of Decidueye GX, a second Rowlet, and some Energy. Fortunately, this was all that I needed to stay afloat in the game: His start wasn’t too incredible, and so my Decidueye GX became an incredible wall on the third turn. Its bulk in turn got me through the game

Game Two: One aspect of his list which was relatively unique was the inclusion of two Hex Maniac. Their value really showed this game, as he was able to do a good job keeping me locked, and after a relatively long slug fest, he finally won.

Game Three: Unlike the past couple games, which were characterized with a slow start and Hex lock, I charged into my Stage Two lineups right away. I then played very quickly in my effort to draw six prizes before the clock expired. I can’t characterize my choices as optimal, especially with some questionable Feather Arrow targets, but I made it with less than a minute to spare.  (5-1-1)


Round Eight: VS Mega Mewtwo (Ross C.)


I decided to write this round before any other, and this description in particular because I think a couple of the interactions Ross and I had were incredibly fascinating.

First, I have a routine I offer every game to my opponents: I position myself to flip a coin, and then ask them if they want to call Heads, Tails, or in the air. He immediately asked if I’d be willing to do a roll of the die – something I normally wouldn’t do, but I went ahead and did anyways because I like Ross and have known him for a long time. I figured his motivation to ask for a die roll was based on past interactions, which I later confirmed by asking him. I then followed that up with, “Well, why didn’t you just call the flip in the air?”

At that point he simply said, “I didn’t hear you say that. But sure, that would’ve been fine.”

My takeaway: some flexibility in your early game routine (change randomizers or offer to flip in the air) is actually a really effective trust-building tool.


However, long live the coin master race

Second, Ross shuffles on his lap. This results in his deck going below the table, which is a serious problem because your cards should never go below the table. Again, I like Ross, have known him for forever, and have an immense respect for the quality of his game. However, I don’t care if you’re El Chapo Guzman or Mother Theresa: keeping your hand above the table is one of those ironclad rules of any card game. So I asked him multiple times to keep his deck above the table – something he complied with without any issue. The shoe was on the other foot, and he was willing to get a bit out of his comfort zone for the sake of respect.

My takeaway: respecting your opponent’s reasonable requests and maintaining trust makes asking for your own reasonable requests that much easier. 

So that was fun – a couple neat takeaways. Now let’s get back to the games…

Game One: Ross won the opening fli—errr…dice roll, and opted to go first. Normally this would put a lot of pressure on a list like mine because of the threat of early Garbodor, but fortunately his lines make it harder to get out that all-important early Trubbish with Float Stone. This meant I had no threat of losing my Abilities, and so Vileplume’s Item Lock came out with no real threat to it, alongside Decidueye a turn later. We then spent a very long time making trades of Decidueye swarms against Mewtwos, while I simultaneously put damage on his Shaymin EX on the bench. He was never able to hit me with too good of a Shrine of Memories/Damage Change combo, but he did save a Shaymin from certain death. Ultimately, however, a very well-timed, luckily-drawn Lugia EX with Double Colorless Energy gave me just the damage output I needed to Knock Out his final Mewtwo, and seal the game.

(Also, I’d like to note that while Espeon GX didn’t get a chance to make a difference, it very well could have thanks to its GX attack. Ross just didn’t have the Lysandre to bring up my no-Float Stone VIleplume into the active position.)

Game Two: He again went first, and again couldn’t get out a fast Garbodor, but the difference here was that his start was a lot more aggressive than the last game. I brought up a Tauros to attempt to keep his Mewtwo from going too out of control as I built up other attackers, but that hardly lasted long enough to make a difference. Although Decidueye still did a good job exchanging with his Mewtwos, it wasn’t enough to seal the game. So by top being called and the third turn before the match’s end, his Mega Mewtwo Knocked Out the last Pokémon he needed to tie up the match. (5-1-2)

Round Nine: VS Mega Gardevoir (Stefan Tabaco)

Game One: Going second, I got stuck on a first-turn Hex Maniac with a lone Oddish and a Sycamore in hand. However, Tauros GX is pretty good in this matchup, so I decided to position myself to get my Oddish out of the active position and into the Tauros. So I used Ultra Ball for Tauros, benched it, hoped for the best and…drew an entire turn one Vileplume under Ability lock, on top of a Float Stone and a Double Colorless Energy! I then immediately used Tauros GX to take control of the game while slowly building up my benched Decidueyes. He made a good comeback without much to work from, but he couldn’t come back when I had two Deidueye in play.

Game Two: Although I had two Oddish prized, a dirty little secret to this deck is that you can play whole games without ever locking Items once. His start wasn’t too stellar, so Decidueye was able to carry the game unassisted at all by Vileplume. (6-1-2)

…And with that, I was on to day two! I at least made the cost of my trip back, and at 22nd seed could only go up from there.

Round Ten: VS Mega Ray (Michael)

Game One: I didn’t get any Stage Two Pokémon until turn three, but when I finally got out the heart of my deck, it was an unstoppable setup. Jirachi promo put in lots of work, slowing him down and knocking off Double Colorless Energy cards he would have no way to get back under item lock.

Game Two: I drew an unplayable hand and lost.

Game Three: I drew another unplayable hand and lost again. (6-2-2)

Round Eleven: VS Turbo Darkrai (Joshua)

Game One: I drew incredibly and won to an unplayable hand.

Game Two: I drew incredibly and won a somewhat dragged-out, but still mostly hard-to-play hand for my opponent. (7-2-2)

Round Twelve: VS Turbo Darkrai (Mark Garcia)

Game One: I drew incredibly and won to an unplayable hand.

Game Two: I drew incredibly and won to an unplayable hand.  

…Wow, those sure were some interactive games versus Turbo Darkrai, huh?!

Round Thirteen: VS Mega Mewtwo (Ryan Sabelhaus)

Game One: Unlike my series with Ross, this iteration of Mega Mewtwo was an exact copy of Igor Costa’s second place deck list from a few weeks back – think the list I posted last week, but with an extra Trainers’ Mail instead of a Tauros GX. As such, his Garbodor lock was much more reliable, getting out turn two. I flailed around a bit to see if I had a way out of it, but I just wasn’t drawing into my Energies to see light at the end of the tunnel. I scooped relatively quickly.

Game Two: In another moment of totally interactive gameplay, I…got out a turn two Vileplume, and he did not get a Garbodor out. It was a little bit more questionable due to his ability to Hex to open up attachment of Float Stone and Evolution into Garbodor. However, I sniped his only Trubbish before that could happen, and didn’t have too much trouble cruising to a win.

Game Three: At the beginning this game was looking a lot like game one, but I was able to get two damage counters on his Trubbish by the first turn. This made all the difference, as within several turns that later set me up for the perfect opportunity to Knock Out his Trubbish with a Razor Leaf. He also found himself in a horrible draw spot, stuck with two Double Colorless on a regular Mewtwo EX…with no way to evolve it. I seized on the chance and knocked it out. While he ultimately got out a Mega Mewtwo EX, the aggression paid off, and I was quickly getting into a spot where I could stick his benched Hoopa EX in the active position while tearing apart his bench. Unfortunately time was called and I knew there was no way on Earth I’d draw all my prizes in time, so I made the simple plays that guaranteed the tie. (8-2-3).

Round Fourteen: VS Vespiquen/Zoroark/Herdier (Dan Lynch)

Game One: I got out a quick lock, but not much in the attacking options. It worked out pretty well for me, but opened up the possibility for a comeback. He did just that with some big hits with Zoroark and Orangaru, but they cost nearly all of his Double Colorless attachments. Once the fourth energy was down, I had the game.

Game Two: I found myself one card off of the turn one Vileplume, which set me back greatly for the rest of the game. I never did get Vileplume out past that point, and while my Decidueyes put up a lot of fight, and my Jirachi especially put in work, he always had the knock out in hand. I then, with multiple prizes left to his one, was dead on arrival.

Game Three: Without much time left, I capitalized on an explosive start and start Knocking Out his Pokémon very, very quickly. Unfortunately, he always seemed to have a Basic, and when time was called, I was – again – a turn off of winning an unlosable match. (8-2-4)

8. Some Final Thoughts on the Deck, and Ideas Going into Collinsville

So that was it – the end of Decidueye/Vileplume’s crazy Regionals run. In the process I played against some incredible players, beat some matchups which common knowledge, but fell just a bit short of continuing in the top eight. I really wanted to win this one, but I did finish well enough to justify continuing my season to more Regionals and traveling!

I wouldn’t have made too many changes to Decidueye – all of which were addressed above in the list discussion. For Collinsville and the Expanded format, Decidueye/Seismitoad is looking like a clear frontrunner. I also wouldn’t discount Decidueye/Vileplume either, especially because you get crucial cards like Jirachi EX, Computer Search, and Tool removal (eat that, Garbodor!). Of course your matchups change as well, which include Archeops Noble Victories: the prehistoric, Evolution-devastating bird monster.  Despite how big of a threat Archeops can be, it will practically have the same effect Garbodor had on me this Regional: clearly a concern, but nothing you can’t handle, and especially something you can beat or at least stalemate.

This Regionals inspired me to keep thinking outside of the box, so it’s entirely possible I’ll use something radically different should I go to Collinsville. Nevertheless, if Decidueye proved it can compete with the best in Standard, then it can surely handle a much friendlier Expanded format!

9. Conclusion

In the old days, tournament reports were concluded with “props” section. Since I’m no longer a 14 year-old kid, I feel less interested in “props” – I could go on and on about the things I like. Instead, let’s take this moment to highlight some people I owe a ton of gratitude to for helping me survive this torrential weekend:

–Robby and Alec, my friends and roommates this trip. In a 20-year storm they stuck around waiting to come pick me up, tested and theorymonned…and most importantly talked me out of M Beedrill EX, haha. Robby was also the sole person aside from random opponents on PTCGO who got a chance to see how powerful Decidueye can be against its supposed autoloss, Volcanion.

–The airline customer service rep who miraculously routed me through the only path possible to get to Anaheim.

–My girlfriend Yanet did a really good job keeping me relaxed the Friday before the tournament. Everything needed to go right for me to not only get that new flight, but get to it on time, and she really helped me get in the right mindset for that.

–Second City Gym, the tournament organizer, for being ready to refund my entry fee in case I couldn’t get on a flight. Good customer service experience for my first regional of the season!

–MTGDeals.com for having exactly what I needed to finish my deck.

–Luck! I’m a lucky, blessed person in more ways than one, including getting this golden opportunity to jumpstart my 2016-2017 competitive season.

 

Til next time,

~JK

 

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My Eye on Anaheim Part 1

“My Eye on Anaheim: Top 16 Masters Report with Decidueye/Vileplume”
Today’s tournament report is written with players of all skill levels in mind, as well as lay people who know nothing about Pokémon cards! Whether you’re here for the story or the strategy, I hope all of you who take the time to read this report enjoy it very much. Most of all, I hope it all makes sense!

Table of Contents:

–Part 1–
1. A (Re)introduction
2. A Sorta-Kinda Comeback, and Where We're at Today
3. The Importance of Anaheim
4. The Reasoning Behind Decidueye
5. The List: Analysis and Explanations

1. A (Re)introduction

My name is John Kettler, and I’m a life-long fan of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. I’ve been playing since this game first came out wayyyyy back in my childhood (“something-something you know you’re a 90’s kid when…”). I then became inspired by the online community to become competitive in 2003, when I made a name for myself as a player of unique, strange, and fun decks ,most of which I made on my own or with close teammates. Extended to our complete network, there were around two-three dozen of us spending the better part of 2003-2007 monopolizing the scholarship and travel awards available. 

Later I began college, and as such saw a slight but insignificant slip in my results. But while I stopped dominating events the way I once did, I stayed relevant through founding the site you’re now reading: HeyTrainer.org. Founded on the ideals of free speech and free dumb, HeyTrainer.org was a reaction to a community with very few good spaces for the adult players  – ironic, since at least 70% of the people who play Pokémon cards competitively are adults! Henceforth, I became less known for the playing, and better known as “Mr. HeyTrainer.”

However, we’re all three-dimensional people, so naturally our passions extend beyond any one particular thing. One such other great passion of mine is law – specifically areas with cutting-edge political questions such as immigration and family law. Finally (and most importantly), I’ve found myself in a serious relationship of three years! Thus, I balance a lot of things these days, and some of those things take priority over others. As much as I love Pokémon, I want to advance my career more than I want to play this game; and because we’re long distance, I will easily choose spending time with my girlfriend over playing Pokémon any day of the week.

The result was an erosion in my obsession for the game. Rather than stay well ahead of the curve as I once did, I began to lose my touch in both playing and deck building. Unlike older name players who aged like fine wine, I looked more like Casey at the Bat, putting up wildly inconsistent performances from 2012-2014. Some of this can be chalked up to the change of invitational structure, which emphasizes lots of tournament success over a few hot runs, but ultimately, not winning a National or World Championship falls squarely under your shoulders. I also neglected my poor brainchild HeyTrainer.org, which – although inspiring countless of the major Facebook groups which exist today – is now a Rocky Balboa in the Face(book) of countless Apollo Creeds.

2. A “Sorta-Kinda” Comeback, and Where We’re at Today

Starting with the middle of 2014 and continuing today, my tournament performances improved substantially. I started earning invites again, learned how to stress out less, became more honest with myself as a player, and found inspiration all over again. Johnny got his jam back, but there was one thing missing: a revived HeyTrainer!

Although I came dangerously close to closing this site for good, I decided that the forum once famous for its “anything goes” mindset needed to keep on existing for a new generation of players sick of the Facebook groups. I also saw a drop in quality of a lot of the “premium article” websites: places which charge players money to read articles meant to improve their performances at tournaments. Although notable exceptions exist for both, including but not limited to the HeyFonte Facebook page and the Pokebeach premium article program, I determined that our community has a void which desperately needs to be filled.

Therefore, the principal focus here is pretty simple: an increase in high-quality, free content for players, coupled with an unstoppable passion for this quirky card game of ours!

3. The Importance of Anaheim

Starting with the current season, the official organizing body for Pokémon tournaments – Play! Pokémon – increased the prize support of Regional Championships: prestigious events which represented the populations of several states or provinces. What once saw a prize of just a few boxes now sees a first place cash award of $5,000, as well as greater implications for multiple free trips across the world year-round! Unfortunately, all good things have a tradeoff, and the tradeoff this season was a severe cut in local tournaments, including individual State Championship event. The end result is that you now have a very hard time pursuing a competitive season outside of a few hours’ distance; otherwise, you won’t get the achievement points (Championship points) necessary to get free stuff. You also won’t have half a prayer to compete in the World Championships, the most prestigious and valuable tournament of the entire season!

Historically I love playing, but I also historically don’t like forking out tons of money to travel all over the world playing Pokémon. That’s why I have a harder time justifying tournament costs larger than the entry fee and a few bucks for gas.

A nice thing about living in Texas is that I never missed my local Regional Championship, meaning I had at least one good chance before the National and World Championships to test my mettle versus elite players in the real, non-online world. However, as mentioned earlier, I chose not to go to this year’s Regional Championship because it was scheduled the weekend of New Year’s. New Year’s was special for two reasons: it was my first time to celebrate a New Year in person with my girlfriend; and the First of January happens to be my mother’s birthday! For those reasons, it ultimately made more sense to skip the Regional entirely.

Don’t mistake prioritizing the important things in life for a lack of love for the game, though: I was still hungry for some good performances, and so the idea of flying to Anaheim for a Regional Championship came to be. I thought, “If I do well enough here, I can justify playing in more tournaments! If not, then let’s just roll the dice at the National Championship.”

4. The Reasoning Behind Decidueye

And thus, I decided that I should be perfectly willing to bet it on a new, risky concept out of Sun and Moon: Decidueye GX. The Pokémon Trading Card Game is mostly about getting Damage onto opposing Pokémon, and this card lets you put Damage in play…for free. You don’t even have to PAY anything!


Free and powerful…Sound familiar?

Well, other than that one little joke, I don’t need to spend much time telling you about the merits of Decidueye GX itself. That’s because I’ve already done it twice: once last week, and again the week before that. The purpose of this section, however, is to address why I risked my season on such an unconventional, new concept.

As mentioned above, this tournament was the bellwether for my entire season: If I did well, then I would play at more Regionals; if I did not do well, then I’d stake it all on Intercontinentals – a.k.a., the Artist Formerly Known as Nationals. So since my season’s path depended on this single Regional, I had much less pressure on me to play something safe. This freedom from safety in turn gave me the freedom to stick with what would otherwise be a very scary deck: After all, it’s a deck centered around getting at least two Stage Two Pokémon in play in a format full of Basics! How could that win games?!

Well, Basics can’t do nearly as much when all of their absurdly powerful Tools and Items aren’t there to assist them, right? Plus, the ability to deal Damage anywhere in the field combined with Item lock means you can even stick these powerful cards in unwinnable positions. Also, I uh…played a deck exactly like this at Nationals 2012, in an era even worse for Evolutions and better for Basics. And at that tournament I got 10th out of over a thousand people.

That memory suddenly put a lot more wind in my sail for Decidueye, so I knew it was an insane enough concept to work. All it needed was a good enough list…

5. The List: Analysis and Explanations

Here is the list I used, in all its crazy glory!

Does this look familiar? It should, because I spent a whole fourth of my last blog entry talking about Decidueye! As I mention in that article and in my Quick Search entry, my preferred way to run the list is Vileplume, and the changes to make the list I posted there to Vileplume were not that hard.

From the Vileplume-free list I posted, literally all you have to do is cut VS Seekers and Fighting Fury Belt. No giant mystery – just don’t run the stuff you either won’t use under Item lock, or won’t want to play before Item lock!

Let’s look at the choices in detail:

4-4-4 Decidueye GX line: Decidueye is your everything, so of course it makes sense to run a decent-sized line of it. However, I have multiple reasons for why I run a maximum count. First, the more pieces you run, the more likely you will get your free Damage faster and in numerous quantities. Second, Decidueye GX’s GX Attack, Hollow Hunt GX, is incredibly important in smoothing out every aspect of our deck, but you won’t be getting it out nearly as often and when you need it without four! Finally, I’m fairly convinced that without a 4-4-4 line, you don’t have nearly as many swarming options as needed to last a full game.

2-2-2 Vileplume line: At first I started with a 3-3-3 line, but was inspired by Andrew “Russian Charizard” Wamboldt’s Lurantis/Vileplume article to give 2-3-3 a try. I quickly became addicted to the greater space, so I then dropped it down all the way to 2-2-2, which was just the sweet spot needed in order to fit all the variety tech attackers I wanted, which will be discussed below.

1 Lugia EX: Of all the Big Basics you could pair with Decidueye GX, Lugia EX is the strongest. Its Aero Ball Attack puts immediate offensive pressure on your opponent in any situation, and Feather Arrows combined with its second Attack, Deep Hurricane, allows for incredibly high Damage caps to be reached. With some careful planning, it’s not unheard of to position a One-Hit Knockout against a Mega Pokémon through Deep Hurricane! Lugia EX was by far my favorite Basic tech of the weekend.

1 Tauros GX: While Lugia EX is a great offensive hitter, Tauros GX is great for revenge kills and defensive positioning. If the opponent attacks a Tauros GX with even a medium-sized attack, you’re suddenly putting nearly all of the format in range for a one-shot KO. While Tauros had its moments, I was longing for a second Lugia EX more often than not, especially in the Mega Mewtwo matchup.

1 Jirachi XY67: Jirachi made it in as the 60th card because of a theory process I went through on the airplane right to the event. Since I was torn between about half a dozen tech Attackers for only 2-4 spots total, I went down the line and considered exactly which matchup each helped out in the most. This theorizing led me to conclude that I had two blind spots: Mewtwo/Garbodor and Mega Rayquaza. To help alleviate both of those matchups, I decided to run promo Jirachi exclusively for its Stardust Attack. Not only do I discard their few-and-far-between Double Colorless Energies, but slow down a very fast, aggressive assault, buying me time to double my Feather Arrow output. Although Jirachi ultimately didn’t win me any of my four matches versus those decks in practice, I think it has the potential to turn both of those matchups in your favor. Perhaps the safer, cleaner play would be to run Meowth Fates Collide, which we’ll discuss in a bit.

3 Shaymin EX: Shaymin EX’s Set Up is the heart of nearly all draw power in the current format, and my deck is no exception. However, the difficult decision for me was whether I wanted to run three or four copies. A deck featuring Forest of Giant Plants for fast evolutions is about speed, so of course you would want a higher-than-average count of a card capable of getting your deck size below 30 on turn one. What I found in testing is that with the fourth Shaymin EX, I saw diminishing returns, to the point where its removal was hardly noticed.

4 Sycamore: I’ve seen many fast setup decks survive without a maximum count of Sycamore, but when you aren’t running any copies of VS Seeker to get them back, it’s essential to run as many as you can.

3 N: Hand replenishment is great, and hand disruption under Item lock is even better. What makes N particularly special in this deck however is its great synergy with Feather Arrow Knock outs. When your Opponent has a heavily damaged EX Pokémon with little health left, but is currently two prizes ahead of you, N lets you get the advantage of a bigger hand, score the Knock Out on the heavily damaged EX, and then maybe even score another KO with an Attack. This suddenly means that thanks to N, you get to create an even bigger comeback win than normal. 

2 Lysandre: While I felt fine with the above Supporter counts, running only two Lysandre copies was one of the toughest decisions I had to make. Part of having a solid lock with Decidueye GX and Vileplume includes having the wherewithal to bring up a high Retreat Cost Benched Pokémon and snipe the actual threats. For that reason, I actually ran three copies through the majority of my testing. I finally decided to bring it down to two because I was confident in Hollow Hunt GX getting back the used Lysandre copies, as well as to keep my Set Up Abilities from yielding fewer cards.

4 Ultra Ball: Gets anything; thins your hand out for stronger Set Up Abilities.

4 Trainers’ Mail: Your games are often made or broken on how fast you can fetch a Forest of Giant Plants.

3 Level Ball: The count on Level Ball was one of the most contested aspects of my list, but rarely because it wasn’t useful. Rather, I thought about all the other possibilities that could be obtained at the expense of this quick, dirty way to fetch every one of your pre-evolution cards. I came down as low as one in order to fit a nifty little idea (more on that later), but when that idea was ruled out, three Level Ball became my final choice: enough to fetch your lines consistently, but not so many they detract from your deck’s versatility.

2 Revitalizer: Revitalizer is an incredible way to fix bad Professor Sycamore discards, make your explosive starts even more explosive, or just help you get around games with bad prizes. I actually started out with three Revitalizer but cut it to two due largely in part to the desire to keep my Set Up draws from being clogged, but also because I determined that really careful playing foregoes any need for the third copy. It’s a large reason why I took my typical prize-searching process much more seriously: because I knew that while I had some slack in case something was prized or discarded, I didn’t have much!

2 Float Stone: Due to my confidence in maintaining Feather Arrow aggression regardless of what my Active was, I actually spent much of testing with one or even zero Float Stone. That meant if a Vileplume got brought into the Active position by Lysandre, I was totally ready for that. However, I determined that not running enough Float Stone copies made splashing in tech Basic attackers completely unfeasible, so keeping space for that many copies became a necessity.

4 Forest of Giant Plants: Save the rainforests; fight climate change!

4 Double Colorless Energy: Nothing special here – 4 DCE is just really good for everything including attacking, retreating, and getting Shaymins out of play. Hypothetically you could run fewer than a maximum count if you were only running Decidueye and Vileplume, especially since you have Hollow Hunt GX to get them back. However, the inclusion of the tech attackers all but forces you to have this many.

4 Grass Energy: Unlike running two copies of Revitalizer and Lysandre, there are many things that can happen outside of your control if you ran any less than four Grass Energy in this deck. Not running VS Seekers means you will constantly want to have access to Hollow Hunt GX, Decidueye swarms, or even the ability to pay Vileplume’s hefty three Retreat cost. Running fewer than four also risks putting otherwise easy matchups in the tossup column, like Greninja and Waterbox. Grass Weakness doesn’t mean anything if you can’t ever attack with Razor Leaf, right?!

Other Possibilities

Meowth, FTC: It does a clean 50 damage to anything in play as long as it has Damage on it already – pretty neat, huh? Combined with Decidueye GX however, it becomes an immediate OHKO threat to any small Basic, most import of which is Trubbish BKP. Most lists running Garbodor BKP and its Ability-locking Garbotoxin have to wait a turn before evolving their Trubbish, so a Meowth strike can prevent what could otherwise be a very ugly board situation.  I’ve actually switched it into my current list on the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, and it’s working as well as I knew it could. The only downside is that I have nothing to tilt my Rayquaza matchup other than just getting set up first.

Trevenant EX, PRC: The only thing that can prevent locking a high Retreat cost Pokémon in the active position while you go to town on the rest of your opponent’s threats is a pesky Float Stone, or reduced Retreat cost via Float Stone. What better way to deal with both of those than a Pokémon which locks the active with Dark Forest, without any hope of Retreat beyond a Pokémon Ranger or Olympia? Trevenant EX is also great because it lets you work on killing two, possibly three different Pokémon all at once! That said, I think the list does a fine enough job keeping Pokémon locked as-is, and it’s not high up on the list of choices.

Beedrill EX, XY157: Beedrill EX, unlike Meowth, is an unconditional way to rid yourself of a Tooled-up Garbodor while Vileplume is also in play. I like it almost as much as Meowth, especially because its second Attack can risk big damage for only two Energy, but the Meowth and Jirachi are both much more versatile in shoring up even matchups. It’s also a very vulnerable EX to potentially leave Active with as much as a DCE and Grass on it.

M Beedrill EX, XY158: This is my garbage gimmick idea. By Mega Evolving an already-included Beedrill EX, you now create an even more frightening lock via auto paralysis and quadruple poison, thus accelerating anything you had in mind. The idea is 100% untested, and thus gets no more respect from me than “crazy-awful 11th hour idea,” but actually could be a really scary deck I you could somehow fit it.

1-1 Raticate EVO: Rattata is another decent way to deal with Float Stoned Trubbish. However, my favorite theory was to put opponents in horrible positions with Raticate’s Crunch, discarding all Energy while you Feather Arrowed from the safety of the Bench. Shadowy Bite is also an incredible way to punish decks with lots of Special Energy.

X number of Celebi, XY93: Celebi is cool because it can augment Decidueye’s Feather Arrow Damage targets while offering what could be on a good flip the deck’s best stall wall via Leap through Time. I ultimately determined that because of how common Silent Lab, Garbodor, and Hex Maniac are, the last thing I needed was a copy of a card that had no hope of significantly improving any matchup past Gyarados AOR (which you shouldn’t have a problem against anyways).

2-4 Reserved Ticket: One of the wildest versions of this list that appeared to have some success was running copies of Reserved Ticket. Much of this deck’s problem is not drawing cards, but getting a copy of Forest of Giant Plants out into play. One solution I settled on was to run copies of Reserved Ticket, which despite relying on a flip increases your odds of rigging the top card with Forest. I ultimately settled on not running this for two reasons: first, I put a lot of premium on deck space dedicated to actual attackers; second, I wasn’t too keen on playing an Item that doesn’t actually thin your deck.